


The Fool

by ficklefixal



Series: zero [1]
Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers, ゼロの使い魔 | Zero no Tsukaima | The Familiar of Zero
Genre: Gen, Henrietta and Hydron are Distant Cousins, Louise Has a Twin, and two of them have magic, the resistance have to deal with six humans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22523428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficklefixal/pseuds/ficklefixal
Summary: By the end of it, Louise knew she couldn't back out. Not when Louise the Zero could do something to help those who made her realize she wasn't a complete failure.—He won't lie though; the staring was getting to him. He doubts she'd even bothered to blink.—When she feels her fingers curl around a card, she gingerly pulls it out, smiling at the Fool.Alternately: a mage smiles at the Fool, and it smiles back.
Relationships: Hiraga Saito/Louise de la Vallière, Louise de la Vallière & Original Female Character
Series: zero [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625356
Kudos: 3





	The Fool

Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière counted on three things after her marriage to Saito Hiraga: one, that they would be together until one of them died. Two, that no matter the odds, her twin sister would be part of their lives (not like Saito would ever dream of keeping the Vallière twins apart). Three, she and Saito would live relatively peaceful lives—at least, until Tristain would need them again.

So you see, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière did _not_ expect Queen Henrietta to visit her and Saito, and she certainly didn’t expect her twin’s presence.

“I didn’t want to impose, but… There’s nothing I can do.” Her childhood friend kept her eyes downcast, shoulders hunched and bottom lip jutting out, looking so much like the girl the twins grew up with, lost and confused and completely out of her depth. Maybe Louise was out of depth too, but it didn’t stop her from reaching forward to place a hand on top of Henrietta’s own.

“We’ll help.” There’s so much conviction in her voice, so much sincerity in her eyes, and so much strength filling her heart that for a moment, Louise forgot her desire for a peaceful life with her beloved.

(Later she’ll wonder _why_ she wanted to help, especially after Louisa reminds her that she almost lost Saito just three months ago, but she knew she couldn’t turn Henrietta away. It just wasn’t like her to refuse to help a friend.)

The Queen tells them of her cousin, a green-haired boy whom she and the twins played with whenever he was around. She tells them of her distant uncle, a ruthless and power-hungry man that she never trusted. She tells them of a familiar realm, one that the twins have dreamt of before. She tells them a tale all too familiar to Louise, of fearsome beasts that could turn into compact balls and return to their true form once called into battle. She tells them of cruelty and abuse, the plight of sentient beings thought to be nothing but mindless playthings.

By the end of it, Louise knew she couldn’t back out. Not when Louise the Zero could do something to help those who made her realize she wasn’t a total failure. And from the looks of it, Louisa wasn’t going to stay in Tristain either.

In the end, Louise and Saito didn’t get the relatively peaceful life they were hoping for in their first year of marriage, but as she looks at her twin—whose pink eyes gleamed with determination, whose lips were stretched into a taut, thin smile—she thinks she’d rather have this.

Unconsciously, just as she’d done so in the past, Louise reaches for her twin’s hand, lacing their fingers together as she lifts her wand to cast World Door. What awaits on the other side isn’t what they expected it to be: a barren wasteland, without any signs of intelligent life. They look at one another, brows furrowed.

“What in Brimir’s name happened?” Louisa had been the first to step through the portal, her fingers slipping through Louise’s as she wanders forward. Not wanting to leave her twin alone, Louise tugs Saito through before the portal could close (not that it would happen; she’d been going through the Founder’s Prayer Book to make her spells stronger after all).

“This isn’t the New Vestroia Drago created,” Louise says, glancing around. There’s nothing but barren earth around them, and when she glances to her husband, Saito looks sufficiently confused. She squeezes his hand, both of them turning their attention to the youngest Vallière when they feel the familiar surge of her magic passing through them.

Louisa kneels, her fingertips pulsing with light as she felt around for anything to tell her of what happened. Saito and Louise exchange looks, before they flank her. Sure, this may be New Vestroia, but it’s not the one the twins are familiar with. After nearly losing each other, neither Louise nor Saito were ready to let harm come to any of their family.

Thankfully, they would soon find the answers they sought, though getting them certainly won’t be easy.

_[Gamma City, New Vestroia]_

Within his lab, Clay Fermin sees a disturbance on the surface of New Vestroia. It’s unlike the disturbance from a dimensional transporter, of that he’s certain. If anything, it’s similar to the portal that spat Dan Kuso out, along with all the headaches that followed the earthling. Quickly feeling a migraine coming on, he contacts the Vexos to inform them of what happened.

He’d passed the information on as quickly as he could, not wanting to see the teenagers any longer than he needed to; they’d always find a way to get on his nerves, especially Shadow and Lync. He supposes Volt and Mylene were tolerable, but Spectra was perhaps the only one of them that he’d allow into the lab. The Pyrus brawler seemed to know what he was doing, anyway.

Perhaps that’s why he agreed to inform Prince Hydron that Spectra went out to investigate the disturbance. That, or the fact that he had yet to fail. Either way, he was sure if any of the Vexos could get an answer, it would be the best of them.

And that’s exactly what Spectra Phantom intended to do, steering his pod to where the disturbance came from. What waits for him isn’t what he was expecting (then again, how could he expect anything?).

Two girls, both with pink hair, and one boy. From his pod, the girls look similar enough, but it’s when he steps foot onto the soil does he realize they’re identical to one another. The girl in the middle stares at him, head cocked to the side, while her companions take defensive stances, though the male shifts to keep both girls behind him.

“Who are you?” Barks the girl on the right, a… stick in her hand. Inwardly, he snickers. Two children (at least, he thinks they’re children; they’re short enough for that) and one teenager. He might not have to get Helios out to deal with them.

(He won’t lie though; the staring _was_ getting to him. He doubts she’d even bothered to blink.)

“Spectra,” he says. There’s no point hiding his identity from them, especially if he’s taking them in. “And you?”

“S—” The boy gets cut off when a harsh gust of wind nearly knocks all of them over, and only then does the girl in the middle speak.

“You’re a Vexo.” It’s more of a statement than it is a question, and he raises a brow. They certainly weren’t Vestals, so how could she know?

She looks him over, pink eyes unblinking as she takes in his appearance. If it were in his nature to fidget, he would. Perhaps Keith Clay would, unnerved by the intensity of her gaze. But he’s Spectra Phantom, leader of the Vexos, and he does _not_ fidget.

“Pyrus brawler,” she continues, stepping forward until she’s just a foot away from him, much to the chagrin of her companions. He doesn’t let his unease show, not keen on letting a stranger get to him.

“You know me. Seems unfair that I know nothing about any of you.” Her lips twitch upwards, and she falls back to her original position, just a little behind the boy of her group.

“Perhaps it’s best if things stay that way, Spectra.” And before he knows it, the three of them vanish, their forms wavering before they disappear into thin air. The suddenness of it has him whipping around, trying to pinpoint the newcomers, but to no avail.

Several questions abound in his mind as he returns to Gamma City, though he knows he won’t get answers from anyone but them.

No matter. Something tells him this won’t be the last he sees of the trio, especially the girl in the middle.

Meanwhile, underneath a sky swirled with soft pinks and pale blues, Louisa thinks the same, replaying the encounter just moments before she’d whisked them away to her anchor. She’d told Saito and Louise to rest for as long as they (read: Louise) needed, if only to give herself some space to think. There’s something odd about that Spectra, she muses.

Absentmindedly, she sticks a hand into the pouch she (crudely) sewed onto her cloak, letting her magic call for an answer. When she feels her fingers curl around a card, she gingerly pulls it out, smiling at the Fool.

_A new beginning_ , she muses, tracing the familiar figures drawn on the card. She's certain it'll be quite the adventure, and as long as her sister remains safe, she doesn't mind stepping off the precipice and into the unknown.


End file.
